MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

9/12 Marmol’s streak

Cubs closer Carlos Marmol has converted 18 straight saves, and has a 0.52 ERA in those games. It’s the first time he’s converted 18 in a row in his career (he was successful on 17 straight at the end of the 2010 season). Marmol is one of only three pitchers in MLB to be perfect in save opportunities since the beginning of May, joining the Rangers’ Joe Nathan (25-for-25) and the Padres’ Huston Street (18-for-18).

With one more save, Marmol will become the fifth pitcher in Cubs history with three-straight seasons of 20 or more saves, joining Lee Smith (five straight, 1983-87), Bruce Sutter (four straight, 1977-80), Ryan Dempster (three straight, 2005-07) and Randy Myers (three straight, 1993-95). Overall, Marmol has 114 saves with the Cubs, third on the all-time list.

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